


Void and the natural alpha

by hisaribi



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Mentioned Alan Deaton - Freeform, Mentioned Scott McCall, Mentioned Talia Hale - Freeform, Non-Human Stiles, Peter was supposed to be an alpha, void!Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 08:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14305077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisaribi/pseuds/hisaribi
Summary: Peter was a kid, when he met Void for the first time. He was an adult, when Void stayed.





	Void and the natural alpha

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Пустота и естественный альфа](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18355205) by [hisaribi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisaribi/pseuds/hisaribi)



> Heey, this time it's not a translation, but thingie I wrote! For [steter network april prompt, darkness](http://steternetwork.tumblr.com/post/172664699395/april-2018-prompt-darkness-the-prompt-for-this). Don't question my interptetations.  
> Great [Green](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green/pseuds/Green) beta-read it!

Peter was twelve when his parents were killed. He was supposed to become the next Hale pack alpha, he was chosen by his alpha, he was taught from a young age, but he was still too young for the alpha-spark to choose him. So it went to Talia, his older sister.

He wasn’t willing to become beta to this woman. The only good things about her was that she could turn into a wolf and was a good mother to her children. But she treated Peter like he was her child, and not her brother and soon to be alpha. More than that she made it perfectly clear, by taking Peter to her sketchy emissary, Deaton, that he would never get the alpha spark from her or her children.

Peter ran from the big, noisy pack house one night, stopping only in front of a grand tree that smelled of power and magic. He sat at its roots and for the first time, screamed for his dead parents and their wise emissary. 

He didn’t expect the man who appeared in front of him, barefooted, in dark and dirty jeans and black turtleneck. The man's skin was pale, almost glowing under the moonlight, his hair was dark and a little curly, but not long enough to reach his shoulders. He had a little stubble, barely there. Peter estimated his age to be about twenty.

His eyes were dark, almost black and empty. It weirded Peter out. He stood up abruptly and growled, but the man didn't change expression.

“Did you want to scare me, kid?” the man asked, his voice sounding wondering.

“I’m not a kid!” Peter snarled.

He was supposed to become the alpha of Hale pack. He just lost his parents and ran to an unknown place. He was anything but a kid, now.

“Oh, my bad, my bad.” The man raised both his hands, and Peter noticed they were also dirty and, probably, bloody. “Of course you're not, being all alone in the middle of the woods near the Nemeton. You are either kid, or stupid, and if you feel better about me calling you stupid, then I’m ok with it.”

Peter growled, but the man was right. They were alone in the woods near a place full of magic and ancient power Peter experienced only once in his life, when his mother took him to the prophecy of Elder Gods.

“I figured that much.” the man smiled and lowered his hands, still not moving closer.

“Who are you? This is Hale land, you have no right...”

It hit Peter before he even finished. He could’ve run off too far to still be on Hale land. Also he couldn't catch the man’s own scent, only magic and something ancient, something like a grave.

Peter blinked and the man was right before him. He grabbed his shirt, lifted Peter with ease and held him against the weirdly warm tree. He looked angry, almost murderous. Peter tried to grab his hand, kick him or somehow escape the gasp, but the man was stronger than him, maybe even stronger than an adult alpha werewolf.

“Stupid then, because kids are honestly so much smarter than you are.” The man’s voice was low, much lower than it was before, and resonated in Peter’s bones, like the tree was repeating after him.

“Who are you?” Peter knew he smelled like fear, but he didn’t care. The man didn’t grab him by his throat, and didn’t kill him, and he took it as a mildly good sign.

“Something you wouldn’t want to meet again.” The man’s smile was soft and somehow tired, it suited him.

Peter was looking at his face, trying to memorize it: wide, dark eyes, upturned nose, a lot of moles. It was probably the last thing he was going to see anyway, so he was lucky that the man was at least handsome.

“I have a feeling that I probably won’t meet anyone again at this point,” Peter snarled, looking back in the man's dark eyes.

“Oh no, I’m not interested in killing you. Honestly, I’m pretty invested in making sure you survive.” He let Peter go and stepped back.

Peter managed not to fall. The man was taller than Talia, but not as tall as her husband, Joseph. Peter would have to look up at him, but instead he sat down to look at him.

“I’m not your enemy, Peter Abraham Hale.”

Peter flinched when his name was pronounced. He didn't tell his whole name.

“I’m kinda even more invested in making you the alpha this land actually needs. The fact that you were able to find your way here is very telling for me, you know.” He reached out and touched Peter’s cheek, fingers cold and rough. Peter didn’t flinch, and the man lowered his hand. “You was supposed to get it, despite your young age. It was stolen and now we both are in danger.”

“Both?”

“Unfortunately. This land, it only accepts natural alphas, and you are the one who was supposed to inherit it. But, the land can change its loyalties if the Nemeton is cut down.”

Peter wanted to ask what the Nemeton was, but he figured it was the big tree behind him.

“And why do you care about this tree?” Peter tried not to sound rude.

“Stability. _This tree_ ,” the man sounded somehow exasperated by Peter’s choice of words, “is a beacon. It attracts supernatural creatures that long for safety and protection, and wards off everything that could harm any creature: evil spirits, hunters with ill intentions. It also serves as a prison to things you would never like to meet in your life.”

“Honestly, still doesn't sound like a reason enough for you to care. Plus emissaries are all about balance, so...”

“Balance and stability are two different things.” The man cut him. “Balance is an excuse to do nothing, while stability is a chance to do something. And you also mistake some things. A true emissary would care about stability, and a poor excuse of one for balance. That’s why I need you to continue your training to be the alpha this land needs. That every creature in Beacon Hills needs. As soon as you are sixteen and have perfect control, we would do a ritual that would make you an alpha, like you were supposed to become.” The man stood up and smiled again. “There is a chance that you will find who I am in your studies, or I’ll tell you later. Just remember, you should never allow Talia and Deaton to cut down the Nemeton. And now you need to go.” He grabbed Peter and almost threw him behind himself. When Peter found his footing and turned back, he couldn't see the Nemeton and the man was nowhere in sight.

***

Peter never met the man again.

Talia and Deaton cut down the Nemeton when Peter was fifteen. They didn't listen when Peter protested.

By the time he was twenty, a lot of Beacon Hills’ supernatural population had left the town and the valley. It became more dangerous there, but nobody noticed, because they were lead by an amazing alpha who could turn into the wolf and ruled her lands perfectly. Anyone who saw her true self were banished.

Peter had wanted to go as soon as he turned eighteen, but he couldn’t leave the land.

***

The first thing Peter felt after he lost consciousness in the fire was pain.

The second thing was the scent of something powerful, ancient, familiar.

“The land still wants you to be its alpha, it allowed you to survive.” The familiar voice Peter hadn't heard for almost fifteen years made its way through his pain. “But Talia gave away the alpha spark to her useless daughter, who ran as soon as she could. And your useless emissary even _advised_ her to run, what a piece of shit.”

He was angry, and actually for the first time Peter was able to connect the man he met in the Nemeton’s roots to Void, an ancient trickster spirit, or even God, who existed as darkness before the light. Peter wondered why something like that even bothered with him.

“But now you are too weak. Your family is disgraced because your coward niece ran instead of taking her revenge, and now everyone thinks the Hales deserved to be burned. The Nemeton is firmly asleep, even though it came alive for a while after your nephew killed that girl. Thank you, by the way, I was able to gain the body again.”

Peter understood what seemed weird about Void’s voice. It was too young, like a child’s. And he wanted to move, to see, to do something, but he couldn’t break out of his own mind’s cage.

Void answers his unasked question. “Awful thing that he was so young, his mother drowned him in the bathtub because she thought he was a monster. The only good thing for him is that I took his body. The only bad thing for me is growing up so slowly. I kept my last body for, like, a thousand years?”

Void ranted, and Peter wanted to ask why he didn’t save his pack, but of course he couldn’t.

“Oh, and also,” Void’s voice sounded distant. “When you are strong enough I’ll make Laura come back here, and then we'll need to revive the Nemeton. Get well.”

And after he left there was only silence and pain for a long, long time.

***

Peter held the boy against his Jeep. He felt some kind of deja vu, but from different point of view. He looked exactly like the man Peter met near Nemeton, but this one was younger, slimmer even, more innocent in some ways, even his eyes shined in the dark lit alley.

“Oh, you're awake and well, great.” He didn’t even sound surprised by being thrown onto the jeep. “Laura is already in town, she will be near burned Hale house in about an hour. Also you look kinda hilarious in the gown.”

Peter didn’t have time to deal with Void, so he growled in his face and ran to the forest.

***

“You need to die for the ritual to work.” Stiles, that’s what others called Void, drove Peter to the parking lot.

“I what,” Peter said,not even bothering with grammar.

“You need to die. Don’t worry, you just bit a banshee, so we will be able to revive you.”

“You know I trusted in you way too much, and why should I trust again?”

“You don’t, but if you will, it would make my life so much easier,” Stiles shrugged. “So be a good boy.”

“And how am I supposed to die? Should I kill myself now or what?”

“No, of course not! It’s too early, you didn’t finish your revenge.”

“It’s not that simple. She is an Argent, and...”

“And you are the Hale, the natural alpha. Your spark is tainted now, though. You need to get rid of it completely.”

“I need to be killed by a hunter?”

“No, if that happened, the alpha-spark would go to either Derek, Scott or whoever it would consider suitable, and it could be anyone, maybe even someone who isn’t there. You need to get rid of it by dying at the hands of a werewolf from your pack, and then later make the alpha abandon it for something.”

“Sounds complicated. And then what?”

“The binding ritual. We would revive the Nemeton and it would accept you as its alpha.”

“Do I really need to die?”

“Oh, don’t whine. As a kid you were more fierce.” Stiles smiled.

“As a kid I only had my wit, and now I have strength, too.”

“Witty ones are more fun.”

Peter would've sworn he was flirting if Stiles didn't just tell him he needed to die.

***

Peter’s revival, Kanima, Alpha Pack, Darach… the crazy few months ended in sacrifices and Derek abandoning his alpha-spark. Now they were supposed to revive the Nemeton completely and do the binding ritual. But nothing went as planned, again.

“I gonna kill that bastard, true fricking alpha, what bullshit.” Stiles circled the living room in Peter’s apartment, while Peter was preparing food in the kitchen. “Deaton did the same thing with Talia, and he repeated it with Scott.”

Peter paused and looked back.

“Why didn’t you kill him yet?”

“Because,” Stiles stopped near the kitchen, “At the moment and until we actually revive the Nemeton, I’m just a slightly immortal human with few telekinesis tricks and knowledge. Deaton is still connected to the Nemeton enough to draw strength from it.”

“So you're telling me that some _druid_ is stronger, than _Void_.”

“No. It’s just that I’d need some help, because all I have is my wit and all this body is capable of, and he has the power of the not-exactly-revived Nemeton now.”

“Hell.” Peter turned back to cooking.

“Yes.” Stiles came closer, hugged Peter from the back and put his head on his shoulder. Peter should find Stiles being so close at least alarming, but he didn’t. “I’m going to kill him, and you can help me.”

“Should we also kill Scott? He is the true alpha.”

“True alpha my ass.” Stiles muttered and trased his neck with his nose. “You are a natural alpha. And this land needs you.”

“But should we do anything about Scott? Does this body,” Peter traced slim long fingers, “feel something for him and you don’t want to kill?”

“Probably. Anyway, I’m gonna play poor possessed kid and kill Deaton.”

“Possessed?” Peter finished cooking. Stiles let him go and went to the table.

“Yeah, some entities were freed when Deaton created his token true alpha, I kinda grabbed one.”

“The Nemeton was a prison.” Peter served food and put it in front of Stiles.

“Oh, you remembered. I’m flattered.”

“I did my homework.”

“Aw, so sweet. Probably gonna marry you, when I’m an adult. Your cooking is good, you're rich and soon to be the natural alpha, what else can someone dream of nowadays?”

Peter smiled and sat down in front of Stiles, who was still eating.

“Really?”

“Probably not. My father's gonna kill you.”

“Oh, shame.”

***

Peter was almost happy. Stiles played great possessed, and he actually looked like the man he met near the Nemeton. Cold, scary and dangerous.

Deaton was dead. Stiles made sure to kill him the way it would stick. Probably even dismembered and burned him. He also stabbed Scott, and almost killed him. But he almost killed himself as well by allowing Nogitsune to create a copy of his body. It wouldn't have been possible except Stiles killed Deaton and connected to the actually revived Nemeton in his place.

So yes, Peter was almost happy, if he ignored the fact that Scott was still an alpha. He didn't like how pale Stiles was, or the way he laid on the couch without movement, staring at the blank TV. He looked even more lifeless than he did when they met for the first time.

He wore dark circles under his eyes, sunken in the pale and bony face, a little stubble proving he wasn't taking care of himself. All this was unnerving. 

Peter carefully touched Stiles' hair still feeling gel in it. “Hey, when was the last time you took shower?”

“A while.” Stiles' voice was raspy. At least he was conscious enough to answer.

“You need to. Of course, your body is almost immortal, but I can still smell the Nogitsune on you.”

“Ugh, this little shit. I can’t kill him now, because he is a part of the Nemeton.”

“Oh, and are you?” Peter helped Stiles to sit down.

“I’m not. And never will, but to exist in this world I need to be connected to it.”

Peter helped Stiles move to the shower. “Oh, ok. So, the binding ritual?”

“Will do when I’m feeling a little bit better.” Stiles moved and closed the door.

Peter looked at the door for some time, checking if Stiles even moved, and then went back to the living room. The only one who knew that Stiles wasn’t human was Peter, and sometimes he wondered what Stiles felt, and did he even have feelings like normal people did.

The noise of water from the shower calmed Peter a little, so he went to his room to find some clean clothes.

Stiles certainly wasn’t modest. He wore nothing, not even a towel, when he left the bathroom. But he put clothes on as soon as Peter gave them to him. He went back to the sofa, this time not lying, but sitting.

“You look good with your hair down.” Peter sat in front of Stiles and took his hands. Still cold, but much more soft then the first time they touched. “Why do you even put the gel on?”

“Everyone kinda does nowadays. Don’t want to look old fashioned.”

“Oh but you aren’t everyone.” Peter put his hand to his cheek, really soft. “You are so much more, or does your body wants to be like everyone?”

“Kinda. I changed bodies a few times and still have trouble managing all these urges. For some reason last time I was called a changeling child, and this time I was diagnosed with ADHD. I wonder what the future holds.” Stiles smiled softly. “Humanity is amazing in classifying everything it doesn’t understand.”

Peter also smiled. “So do you love humans the most?”

“And werewolves. Well, at least the one who is in front of me at the moment. And probably all other creatures who are of any worth. And everyone of any worth.”

“And I hoped to be special.” Peter signed dramatically.

Stiles leant closer and kissed his forehead.

“You are, or I wouldn’t even bother with you.” Stiles leant back and smiled tiredly and softly, just like when he held him against the tree. Only this time it felt more generous, and less dangerous. “We will deal with Scott and whatever comes our way. But not today. Now I wanna go to the bed, and you’ll hug me and we would probably sleep ‘til we wake up.”

“As you wish.”

“Oh, that was easy. Huh, I wonder why I didn’t have sex in this body yet.”

“Maybe that’s because you are still minor, and only time the girl made a move on you, she ended up being the Darach sacrifice.”

“Yes, that was an awkward first experience. What was yours?”

Peter smiled, took Stiles’ fingers closer and kissed.

“Not as awkward as yours. He was experienced, and a hunter.”

“Oh, was it Chris?”

“It was.”

“Somebody loves risk. A hunter, a killer and an ancient entity. You have a thing for power, don’t you?”

“Well, an ancient entity would have to wait for at least a year, but otherwise yes. Now, let’s go to bed, I’m not willing to sleep on this small sofa.”

“Old bones would be cracking in the morning?”

“Oh, hush.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come to my [tumblr](http://whoishisaribi.tumblr.com/) and say hi!


End file.
